IS THAT ALL THERE IS : PEGGY LEE 1969

“Is That All There Is?“ is a song written by American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the 1960s. It became a hit for American singer Peggy Lee from her recording in November 1969. The song was originally recorded by Dan Daniels in March 1968, then by Leslie Uggams in August 1968, Guy Lombardo in 1969, and Tony Bennett on 22 December 1969. The lyrics of this existentialist song are written from the point of view of a person who is disillusioned with events in life that are supposedly unique experiences. The song was inspired by the 1896 story Disillusionment (Enttäuschung) by Thomas Mann. The narrator in Mann’s story tells the same stories of when he was a child. A dramatic adaptation of Mann’s story was recorded by Erik Bauserfeld and Bernard Mayes; it was broadcast on San Francisco radio station KPFA in 1964. One difference between the story and the song is that the narrator in Mann’s story finally feels free when he sees the sea for the first time and laments for a sea without a horizon. Most of the words used in the song’s chorus are taken verbatim from the narrator’s words in Mann’s story.